This invention relates to precast reinforced concrete soil retaining walls such as, for example, the wing walls disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,872, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. As shown in this patent, a precast concrete soil retaining wing wall is attached to a precast concrete bridge or culvert unit having a head wall at the entrance of the culvert unit. Each wing wall is provided with a precast concrete anchor member which projects laterally from the wing wall into the back-filled soil behind the wing wall. The anchor member has reinforcing rods with L-shaped end portions which project into the concrete wing wall between the parallel spaced mats or grids of reinforcing rods. In the fabrication of each wing wall, the anchor members are precast with the L-shaped end portions of reinforcing rods projecting from the concrete, and the precast anchor members are then supported or suspended above the horizontal forms for the wing wall. Thus when the wing wall is cast, the L-shaped end portions of the reinforcing rods projecting from the anchor member are embedded within the wing wall between the parallel spaced grids of reinforcing rods as shown in the above patent.
It has been found highly desirable to simplify the fabrication of the wing walls and anchor members and to minimize the reinforcing steel in the wing walls without sacrificing the strength and performance of the wing walls and anchor members. A reduction in the reinforcing steel in a wing wall is also desirable in order to reduce the total weight of the wing walls for shipping and handling with a crane.